Unconditional Surrender

.....a city committee gets involved. Then things get complicated. Take the 25-foot-tall sculpture of a sailor kissing a nurse on Sarasota's bayfront. Now the public art committee says the "Unconditional Surrender" sculpture is "ornamental and decorative," which disqualifies it from being in the city's collection of public art, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Some members also fear it'll topple in a hurricane. And, get this, if you look up the nurse's skirt, you can see corrosion on her upper thigh.

.....a city committee gets involved. Then things get complicated. Take the 25-foot-tall sculpture of a sailor kissing a nurse on Sarasota's bayfront. Now the public art committee says the "Unconditional Surrender" sculpture is "ornamental and decorative," which disqualifies it from being in the city's collection of public art, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Some members also fear it'll topple in a hurricane. And, get this, if you look up the nurse's skirt, you can see corrosion on her upper thigh.

A kiss is just a kiss. But not for some folks in Sarasota. Take the 26-foot tall ?Unconditional Surrender? sculpture on Sarasota?s Bayfront The traffic-stopping sculpture was first brought to town for Sarasota?s Season of Sculpture three years ago. After sculptor Seward Johnson removed it at the end of the exhibit, a group of residents raised money to bring it back temporarily, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. The sculpture recreates a famous photograph of a World War II sailor kissing a nurse during the end-of-war celebration in Times Square.

A kiss is just a kiss. But not for some folks in Sarasota. Take the 26-foot tall ?Unconditional Surrender? sculpture on Sarasota?s Bayfront The traffic-stopping sculpture was first brought to town for Sarasota?s Season of Sculpture three years ago. After sculptor Seward Johnson removed it at the end of the exhibit, a group of residents raised money to bring it back temporarily, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. The sculpture recreates a famous photograph of a World War II sailor kissing a nurse during the end-of-war celebration in Times Square.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is not making it easy for Baghdad to end the war because it thinks that only unconditional surrender can ensure U.S. aims of eliminating Iraq as a military threat and permanently discrediting President Saddam Hussein. Achieving these objectives, administration officials said on Tuesday, is essential to speed the withdrawal of most of the 537,000 U.S. troops and to make sure they will not have to come back to fight again someday. These are the top priorities of the White House as it oversees what it hopes will be the conclusion of its war effort.

Only a Palestinian unconditional surrender with Israel dictating the peace terms will bring a permanent peace. Otherwise, this decades-old war of aggression begun by the Palestinians will escalate due to the development of more sophisticated weapons.

It's the 127th day of the year; 238 days are left in 1998. On this day: * In 1915, almost 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off Ireland. * In 1939, Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. * In 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, to take effect the following day, ending World War II in Europe. Thought for today: "When an old man dies, a library burns down."

By Sander Portitzky Those in the world who are calling for a cease fire should instead be calling for Israel to inflict as much pain as necessary in order to bring about an unconditional surrender by Hamas and the Palestinians who support their self-declared war against the Jews of Israel. Six thousand rockets have targeted Israeli men, women and children. One only has to read the Hamas Covenant to determine that Hamas and its supporters are ideologically committed to targeting and killing as many Israeli Jews as it will take to win their war by demoralizing the Jews.

Those calling for a cease fire should instead be calling for Israel to inflict as much pain as necessary to bring about an unconditional surrender by Hamas and the Palestinians who support their self-declared war against the Jews of Israel. Six thousand rockets have targeted Israeli men, women and children. One only has to read the Hamas Covenant to determine that Hamas and its supporters are ideologically committed to targeting and killing as many Israeli Jews as it will take to win their war by demoralizing the Jews.

Aerialist Nik Wallenda plans to walk a wire across U.S. 41 in downtown Sarasota on Tuesday. At 11 a.m., Wallenda plans to walk along a wire 180 to 200 feet above the road from a crane platform near the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of the sailor kissing a woman to the roof of the Marina Tower condo. Wallenda, who walked above Niagara Falls last year, is a six-time Guinness World Record holder for aerial feats. U.S. 41 is expected to be closed from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. between Ringling Boulevard and the John Ringling Causeway.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is not making it easy for Baghdad to end the war because it thinks that only unconditional surrender can ensure U.S. aims of eliminating Iraq as a military threat and permanently discrediting President Saddam Hussein. Achieving these objectives, administration officials said on Tuesday, is essential to speed the withdrawal of most of the 537,000 U.S. troops and to make sure they will not have to come back to fight again someday. These are the top priorities of the White House as it oversees what it hopes will be the conclusion of its war effort.

Re the Aug. 3 commentary, "A-bomb necessity not seen with unanimity": When Okinawa fell, the last bastion of defense before the mainland, the Japanese still did not feel defeated. In March 1945, five months before the A-bomb was dropped, Tokyo was firebombed, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and a city destroyed. The Japanese still did not feel defeated. Of course, in the meantime, they were sounding out peace feelers through the Russians, hoping, perhaps, to get favorable surrender terms.

I apologize for misplacing your article on the atom bomb and can only refer to it from memory; however, I do not apologize for Truman's decision. As a Marine who had experienced bloody Okinawa and witnessed the kamikaze offshore assaults on the Navy, which cost 8,000 sailors, I am reluctant to believe that the Japanese were ready to surrender despite the so-called five out of 75 star officers who in hindsight disagreed with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki decision....